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Show 1 Advice on Your Health By Worm FUhbein, Editor, Journal American Medical Association. ' - First la s series ef fans arti- 1 elea ea epidenites Bad wars. In most wars disease always causes more deaths than gun powder .or projectiles. Typhus, plague, cholera, typhoid, dysentery dysen-tery and Influenza do far more damage than dynamite, torpedoes torpe-does and poison gas. As one great biologist said, "Epidemics get the blame for defeat; de-feat; generals get the credit for victory. It ought to be the other way around." Dr. Hans Zinsser of Harvard university has said that typhus and the louse won the World war. Observers point out that the Persians under Xerxes were defeated de-feated In their invasion of Greece by an epidemic of plague and dysentery. Athens fell as the result of plague. In the Crusades there were great epidemics epi-demics of scurvy, plague, smallpox small-pox and other infections. The French captured Prague In 1741 due to a typhus epidemic epi-demic among the Austrian defenders. de-fenders. Napoleon's campaign In Russia failed because of typhoid, ty-phoid, typhus, dysentery and pneumonia. Of 500.000 French soldiers who invaded Russia in June, 1812, 60,000 were killed in battle, 20,000 returned home in December, and the remainder died of exposure and disease. In the Mexican war, 1846-1847, over 100.000 American soldiers went to Mexico, Of these, 10,986 died of typhoid fever, dysentery, smallpox, malai'la and lipial diseases, while 1M9 were killed or died of wounds. In the Civil war, the Union army lost something over 200,-000 200,-000 men by disease and 112,000 ' approximately by battle wounds. In the Spanish-American war we lost 379 in battle and 4795 from disease. Most of the deaths were among soldiers who never reached Cuba. In the camps in this country typhoid fever caused 20,904 cases of sickness and 2188 deaths. In the World war American troops had 58.119 deaths from disease, 50385 deaths from battle wounds. By this time typhoid ty-phoid had been brought under ' control so that there were only 200 cases of typhoid fever with 200 deaths, in contrast to 20,904 cases of typhoid in the Spanish American war and 2188 deaths. The great majority of deaths caused in the World war resulted result-ed from the epidemic of influ-' enza, which was virulent and which struck with a seriousness serious-ness never before seen in that disease. Now comes a definite prognostication prognos-tication by Dr. Thomas M. Rivers, Riv-ers, leading authority on infectious infec-tious diseases from the Rockefeller Rocke-feller institute, that another outbreak out-break of Influenza may well be expected in association with the present war. Epidemiologists throughout the world are Inclined In-clined to accept this prediction because it is known that great epidemics of Influenza sweep the world every 25 or 30 years. Thus far, reports from the various fronts do not indicate any great outbreaks of Infectious Infec-tious disease. The time has been Too short everi"Iof the" Incubation Incuba-tion of some of the commoner infectious in-fectious disorders. NEXT) Influenza la the wake f war. . |